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02.23.07
Seems like LA is almost ready for Sunday’s Oscar parties. At Mäni’s, we’re getting ready, preparing for our customers to grap up their favorites. Also getting ready for Sunday’s Vanity Fair Oscar Party is contributing editor, Lisa Robinson. Ms Robinson comes to Mäni’s whenever she’s in LA. She prefers to pack all her own cookies and muffins herself, so we give her our biggest table and she prepares her own stash and gifts for family and friends in back in NYC. When Ms Robinson isn’t at Mäni’s, she busy writing about what up in music.
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/featur es/2007/03/hottracks200703
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02.20.07
Denise’s comment to last weeks blog, Fiber Challenge Results, inquiring about my view on the minimum requirement of dietary fiber being 25 grams for women and 35 grams for men has motivated me to go on a quick rant about nutrition and life. To the best of my knowledge these are the most recent recommendations for daily dietary fiber intake… The minimum recommended dietary fiber intake for women up to age 50 is 25 grams per day and men up to age 50 is 38 grams per day. A lot of the time you will see the stat reported as a minimum requirement of 20 grams to 35 grams per day (this is lumping in all of the different sub groups that they classify for adults). The different adult groups are young women (women up to age 50), young men (men up to age 50), women older than 50, and men older than 50. Minimum recommended dietary fiber intake for women over 50 years of age is dropped down to 21 grams per day with men over 50 years of age requiring 30 grams per day. I have not found a definitive reason for the range of 20 to 35 instead of 21 to 38. I assume that they rounded off the numbers to make the numbers easier to remember (take note this is a complete assumption on my part). Now it is time for my brief rant about nutrition and life that I promised in the beginning. As Denise pointed out in her comment, these are minimum daily requirements (which by the way most Americans aren’t even getting close to). I want to focus on the word “minimum” because I feel that in our country a lot of people do not reach anywhere close to their potential in many different aspects of life. In my opinion, you should not be happy with just achieving the minimum or even average levels when it comes to your nutrition, profession, financially, spiritually, socially, etc. Who wants to be average? Not I! That is my pearl of wisdom for the day. Hope you do not mind me preaching for a few minutes. Denise’s comment inspired my little rant. If you feel so inspired, please add any pearls of wisdom you would like to share with the rest of us.
02.15.07
 We’re pleased to sponsor In Defense of Animals Benefit
This special event will help the animals affected by Hurricane Katrina, who are still alone, scared and hungry, wandering the abandoned streets searching for food, water and shelter. There will be a wonderful concert and food from many sponsors, including some of Mäni’s most popular vegan items. So join us, come say hello at our table and have some desserts on us. See you there.
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02.13.07
I pride myself on practicing what I preach. If I do not believe in something enough to commit myself to it, I would never suggest or expect anyone else to commit to that something. Here are my Fiber Challenge results… My total dietary fiber for yesterday (Monday, February 12th) was, pretty accurately, just over 63 grams. Where did all that fiber come from? The fiber containing foods that I ate yesterday were oatmeal, sweet potato, bell pepper, tomato, peanut butter, blackberries, spinach, acorn squash, onions, mushrooms, garlic, pear, garlic, a Myoplex RTD shake, some flax meal, and a cliff bar. That is not all that I ate for the day (animal flesh foods do not contain fiber), but those are all the items that I ate yesterday that contain dietary fiber. You might not know this, but Mäni’s menu is loaded with fiber. Anything that contains whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and other plant products is going to contain some fiber because Mani’s does not use refined ingredients. Maximizing your fiber intake at Mäni’s :
Breakfast - Include potatoes and/or fruit with your egg dish focusing on including as many vegetables to your scramble or omelet of choice. If you are not an egg person (and there are a few or you out there), you could do the same with the tofu scramble, go for either of the Mäni’s Homemade Granola or Açai and Granola Bowl, or try one of the multi-grain waffle choices.
Lunch and Dinner - You can’t really go wrong. Pick the salad that appeals to you (they are loaded with veggies and fruit). The sandwiches are made with unrefined flour so they are all good choices for fiber along with the veggies filling them up (same with the burgers). Soup and chili are packed with fiber in relation to the number of calories that they contain.
Bakery - Even the Mäni’s baked goods are going to contain more fiber than your ordinary baked goods because of the commitment to unrefined ingredients. Fiber is abundant at Mäni’s. Take the Fiber Challenge and let me know your results. If you find that you are falling short with your daily fiber intake; add more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes or stop by Mäni’s and pick something up that contains these ingredients. Fiber is an amazing nutrient (more on fiber next week).
02.12.07
Sweatheart Cakes - $14 choose either:
Carrot Raisin - VEGAN or
Raspberry Rhapsody, fruit juice sweetened Small Truffle Heart Cakes garnished with 3 red raspberries - $14 Raspberry Chocolate Tarts in our shortbread crust - $10
Strawberry Cream Tarts in our shortbread crust - $10 Large Truffle Heart Cookies - $12 12 Chocolate Truffles in a box - $25
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02.12.07
Chef Jose has been very busy concocting delicious new soup recipes. Check what we’ve got for you in the coming week. Soup Schedule February 11 to 25 Monday: Chicken Noodle
Ingredients: Chicken broth, Chicken Breast, Onions, Carrots, Celery, Potatoes, Tomatoes, Chives, Sea Salt, Black Pepper, Egg Noodles Tuesday: Tomato Basil (New)
Ingredients: Vegetable Stock, Onions, Potatoes, Basil, Tomatoes, Tomato Sauce, Garlic, Sea Salt, Black Pepper, Oregano Wednesday: Green Split Pea (New)
Ingredients: Canola Oil, Vegetable Stock, Yellow Onions, Celery, Butternut Squash, Carrots, Green Split Peas, Sea Salt, Cumin, Black Pepper Thursday: Cream of Mushroom (New)
Ingredients: Vegetable stock, Canola Oil, Shiitake Mushrooms, Crimini Mushrooms, White Mushrooms, Yellow Onions, Garlic, Sea Salt, Fresh Thyme Friday: Potato & Leek (New)
Ingredients: Vegetable Stock, Olive oil, Potatoes, Leeks, Yellow Onions, Celery, Soy milk, Rolled oats, Parsley, Garlic, Sea Salt, Thyme Saturday: Fennel Chickpea (New)
Ingredients: Vegetable Stock, Olive Oil, Yellow Onions, Chickpeas, Fennel Seeds, Black pepper, Sea Salt Sunday: Broccoli Tahini (New)
Ingredients: Vegetable Stock, Yellow onions, Broccoli, Spinach, Celery, Thahini, Sea Salt, Black pepper
02.11.07
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02.11.07
Mäni’s on Fairfax now has several barrista artists who will be happy to foam you up a heart on your latte.
So come to Mäni’s for that romatic lunch, dinner or after dinner dessert and enjoy a latte and a special heart. (Not available on every shift right now)
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02.08.07
Due to popular customer requests, this year we’ll have Valentine’s Day products starting on Friday February 9th! Most of our special items will be available, so why wait until next Wednesday? When you come by anytime between Friday and Valentine’s Day, you’ll be pleased to find these tasty new items.
Many our of our special items are designed for two servings, but who says you can’t buy one, eat half and save the other half for the next day? FYI, the 4” sweetheart cakes may become a new standard item, if you really like them. Imagine a mini cake for one or two for only 14 bucks? In chocolate with chocolate truffle cream, a fruit juice sweetend raspberry forever cake or a vegan carrot raisin cake. So let’s hear from you. Now’s your chance. We need your input. Thanks!
02.07.07
I, like so many, love chocolate. With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, chocolate is on my mind (maybe that is because I don’t have a girlfriend to share Valentine’s Day with, but that is besides the point). Chocolate can be good for you… Scientists have reported preliminary evidence recently that cocoa and other chocolates may keep high blood pressure down, your blood flowing, and your heart healthy. Researchers attribute these health benefits to the compounds call flavonols, which are the flavonoids found in chocolate. Flavonoids are important because they possess a lot of antioxidant properties. Antioxidants are important from a health perspective because they protect our body from harmful reactions (free radicals) that take place inside of our bodies (more specifically at the cellular level). Excellent! Chocolate is good for me. Just don’t over do it. Remember that over indulging on even the healthiest food in the world would not be healthy. If you can keep it in moderation chocolate does not even just have to be an indulgence every once in a while, it can be a health addition to your normal nutrition (that could be a great subject for future blog conversations...what do you think?) Keep in mind that the darker the chocolate, the richer the flavonol concentration. You still want to stay away from milk chocolate with a lot of refined sugar added into it. What would you do without Mani’s supplying you with a great source of health benefiting chocolate choices without the refined sugar? Look at these great chocolate Valentine’s Day special treats (it’s making me hungry). Happy Valentine’s Day. Oh yeah, I want to know what your Valentine’s Day chocolate choice was?
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